Maine DEP approves MTA plan for tollbooth

Tuesday

Sep 5, 2017 at 9:46 PMSep 5, 2017 at 9:47 PM

Deborah McDermott

YORK, Maine — The Maine Department of Environmental Protection Tuesday afternoon issued a draft decision allowing the Maine Turnpike Authority to build a new toll plaza in York — a key step in the years’ long battle between the MTA and York residents who wanted to stop the project.

However, Marshall Jarvis of the citizens’ group Think Again said his group will “definitely” consider an appeal the decision. “This is not the end of the road,” he said.

The draft license decision on the MTA’s Natural Resources Protection Act application is still subject to comments up until Tuesday, Sept. 12. After reviewing any comments, a final license decision will be made by Sept. 15. Attempts to reach DEP officials were unsuccessful Tuesday evening.

Opposition groups, which also include the town of York, argue an all-electronic tolling (AET) gantry is less expensive to install and maintain, does not disturb the environment and is increasingly being used on toll roads across the country. The MTA intends to build a cash-and-highway speed toll plaza like the one in Hampton, New Hampshire.

In the 32-page memorandum, DEP project manager Robert Green addresses this issue. He said the department is persuaded by the MTA’s argument that the surcharge customers without E-ZPass would have to pay under AET “constitutes a toll increase that limits the flexibility of the applicant (MTA) to raise tolls in the future.”

“After weighing the extent of the impacts to wetlands with the practicability of the AET alternative, the department concurs with the applicant’s determination that implementation of an AET system is not a practicable alternative,” Green wrote.

The interveners said an AET gantry will not disturb any land and therefore any wildlife, while the MTA proposes to disturb about an acre of land on the Chases Pond Road side of the highway. But Green wrote the MTA has gone out of its way to reduce impacts.

“The department finds that the applicant has avoided and minimized impacts to significant wildlife habitat to the greatest extent practicable, and that the proposed project represents the least environmentally damaging alternative that meets the overall purpose of the project,” the memorandum states.

The federal Army Corps of Engineers had already issued its permit for the project last spring. MTA Executive Director Peter Mills said Tuesday that with the receipt of the Army Corps’ permit, “I began feeling comfortable that we might get the (DEP) permit.”

Mills also said he felt the formal DEP hearing held last May at the Kittery Community Center “went very well for us. When I started thinking about it afterward, I thought, ‘Why would we fail?’ and I couldn’t come up with a good reason,” he said.

He hesitated to comment further because the draft license was released at 4 p.m. Tuesday and he didn’t have time to review it.

“It’s been a long time coming,” Mills said. “I got very weary of explaining the same thing over and over again.”

But Jarvis said it may not be over yet. The DEP offers two methods to appeal its licensing decision: either an administrative appeal to the Board of Environmental Protection, or an appeal to the Superior Court.

“We’re really disappointed,” he said. “The decision doesn’t make sense for the short term or the long term. It’s not cost effective even for the Maine Turnpike.”

He said the group intends to look into an appeal. Asked how it would fund that effort, he said, “I don’t know the answer to that question yet, but I don’t think we have a choice but to appeal.”

Attempts to reach York Town Manager Steve Burns Tuesday evening were unsuccessful. Board of Selectmen’s chairman Todd Frederick said the town has long been a partner with Think Again in championing AET. While he has not seen the draft decision, “an appeal will be something the full Board of Selectmen will want to discuss.” He said he would work to have an agenda item on the next board meeting Monday, Sept. 11.

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